Philippines Will Not Lose Any of Its Territory, Marcos Vows Amid South China Sea Tensions

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his second State of the Nation Address before lawmakers at the House of Representatives in Quezon city, Metro Manila, Philippines on July 24, 2023. (Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his second State of the Nation Address on Monday, vowing to defend his country’s sovereignty in the increasingly tense South China Sea.

Mr. Marcos, who came into power last year, pledged to uphold the Philippines’ sovereign rights and assured Filipinos that his administration would not let the country “loses any of its territory.”

“Our journey to progress required not only unity and social cohesion amongst our people. It is also imperative that our nation remains intact and inviolable, our sovereignty preserved,” Mr. Marcos said in his address.

“We will protect our sovereign rights and preserve our territorial integrity in defense of rules-based international order,” he added, referring to the 2016 Arbitral Tribunal that ruled in favor of the Philippines’ legal claim in the South China Sea dispute.

Mr. Marcos said the Philippines would persistently pursue dialogue and diplomatic approaches to address any issues while prioritizing his people’s interest in the government’s foreign policy.

Mr. Marcos, the son and namesake of a former Filipino dictator, has shifted from his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s pro-China stance and deepened ties with the United States, the Philippines’ sole treaty ally in the Indo-Pacific.

Visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte troop the line before their one-on-one meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila on Nov. 20, 2018. (Erik De Castro/Reuters)

Under his leadership, the U.S. military has been granted increased access to Philippine military bases, and joint patrols in the South China Sea—which Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea—were resumed.

On May 3, the Philippines and the United States established the Bilateral Defense Guidelines, which outlined their mutual agreement to enhance military coordination and interoperability, including by “striving toward real-time information sharing.”

The guidelines state that any armed attack on either of their public vessels, aircraft, or armed forces, in the Pacific and the South China Sea would invoke the U.S.-Philippines 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.

In the wake of the Philippines’ growing ties with the United States, Chinese leader Xi Jinping courted Mr. Duterte last week, urging him to continue playing “an important role” in promoting relations between their countries.

Mr. Marcos regarded Mr. Duterte’s meeting with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader as an interaction “between friends” and said that he welcomed any new lines of communication between the two nations.

“I knew that he was going to go there. They are friends, they know each other,” he said July 18, The Manila Times reported.

“All of these things that we are seeing now, I hope they were able to talk about it so we could achieve progress,” the president added.

China’s Refusal of Tribunal Ruling

Beijing claims much of the South China Sea as its own territory under its so-called nine-dash line. The Hague Tribunal ruled in favor of legal action taken by the Philippines in 2016, although it had little to no impact on China’s actions.

The CCP has rejected any claim or action based on the 2016 ruling and has argued that it “gravely violated” the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

“The award is illegal, null, and void. China does not accept or recognize it and will never accept any claim or action based on the award,” the Chinese embassy in the Philippines said on July 12, the seventh anniversary of the South China Sea arbitration.

The embassy accused the United States of “ganging up” against China and forcing it to accept the arbitration ruling as Washington urged Beijing to end its routine harassment of claimant state vessels operating in their exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

A Chinese Coast Guard ship obstructs the Philippine Coast Guard vessel Malabrigo as it provided support during a Philippine Navy operation near Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, June 30, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters)

Envoys of the United States, Japan, and France had also expressed concern over reports of Philippine coast guard ships being “followed, harassed, and obstructed” by Chinese vessels within the Philippines’ EEZ.

In April, more than 100 Chinese maritime militia vessels, a People’s Liberation Army Navy corvette class, and two Chinese coast guard vessels were spotted sailing around Philippine-controlled areas for days.

“The PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] irresponsible behavior in the South China Sea threatens the security and legal rights of our treaty ally, the Philippines,” U.S. envoy MaryKay Carlson wrote on Twitter.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have also clashed with the Chinese regime over its claims in the South China Sea.